OFFICIALS: COSTLY

Truckers pay $3 to travel just more than a mile on the Sawgrass Expressway in northwest Broward County - the most expensive piece of toll road in Florida.

The northeastern stretch of the Sawgrass is sometimes called the "Rolls-Royce Mile," and some elected officials say it's scaring away businesses.

"The turnpike and Sawgrass are the most important economic development tools in the entire west Broward sector," Coconut Creek Mayor Ron Greenstein said. "The first thing developers and businesses look at is roads."

Semitrailer drivers pay $3 when they get on and off the Sawgrass at the Deerfield Beach toll plaza. Car drivers pay 75 cents for the stretch of road. The toll is higher for trucks, because the fee is based on the number of axles.

The 1 1/4-mile stretch of the Sawgrass costs motorists twice as much as any other stretch of toll road in the state, said Kim Poulton, the turnpike's spokeswoman.

But there are no plans to review the tolls until the state begins a $7.5 million study of all roads in the state, said Terry Denham, planning manager with Florida's Turnpike, which manages the Sawgrass. The study is scheduled to begin in July and will take 18 months to two years.

"It's a consequence of tolling and it will always be an issue," Denham said of high tolls for short distances. "It doesn't affect a large volume of our riders."

But it does affect business, Greenstein said.

The Sawgrass runs through some undeveloped areas of northwest Broward that some cities, such as Coconut Creek, have set aside for commercial development.

Greenstein said a national computer company decided against building a distribution center near the road because of the high tolls.

Either their truckers would have paid $3 to travel from the turnpike to Lyons Road or would have detoured five miles to avoid the toll.

"The tolls make it cost prohibitive," Greenstein said. "All I'm saying is let's have an equity study done."

Lowering the entrance toll and raising the exit tolls in some places would encourage more riders and more businesses to use the road while still giving the state the same amount for long-distance travelers, city officials from several west Broward cities said this month.

"You're losing a lot of business because of a disparity of charges," said Dan Pearl, Sunrise's assistant deputy mayor. "I sometimes don't use it because I'm annoyed paying the disproportionate amount it costs to go a short distance."

Officials with Florida's Turnpike, which oversees the Sawgrass, don't want more riders on the Sawgrass.

"The turnpike system has [as) one of its directives to service the long-distance traveler and discourage some of the short-distance travelers clogging up the interchanges," Denham said.

Greenstein is ready to ask state legislators for help to force the Department of Transportation to review the tolls now instead of waiting for the study.

State Rep. Jack Tobin, D-Margate, said he would request a toll rate review if the cities' mayors ask for one.

"The turnpike will review the tolls if I make a request that they do," Tobin said. "It's easy to say 'no' to the city, but when a state legislator makes that request, they can't just say, 'No.' We control their budgets."

Tolls on the Sawgrass, which opened in 1986, changed for the first time in September when charges at interchanges were rounded to the nearest quarter. In most cases, they decreased.

The Sawgrass costs about $23 million a year to operate - $21 million to pay off the debt created to build it, $1.5 million to $2 million for collections, and $500,000 for maintenance such as mowing and paving.

The tolls on the Sawgrass raise about $12 million a year. The state pays the rest.